The Fulfillment of the Law Matthew 5:17-20
Posted on August 7th, 2007 by Reformed Pope into the Reading Matthew categoryThis text may a little bit over my uneducated head. In it Jesus mentions that "The Law" is not going away and that if you aren't more righteous than the Pharisees you aren't getting in to heaven.
17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
So "the Law", as I understand it, is essentially the first five books of the Old Testament. If any of you have read those books you might recall some pretty crazy stuff. For instance (and I'm just flipping through the books at random…there is so much crazy stuff in here)
Exodus 22:5 Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death
Leviticus 19:19 Do not mate different kinds of animals
Leviticus 19:27 Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard
There are rules defining Clean and Unclean Food, Purification after Childbirth, Regulations about mildew including directions on how to cleanse from mildew, and many other interesting Laws.
If "the Law" stands until "heaven and earth disappear", what are we to do?
I'll tell you what I did…I cheated and read on ahead. In the following scriptures (Matthew 5:21-7:12) Jesus lists off a bunch of rules defining Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Oaths, Prayer, Fasting, and other things. Very interesting stuff which we will get to later.
In reading ahead, I found that that Jesus speaks a lot in extremes, overemphasizing a point to drive it home. I'd say Jesus is trying to balance out His message of Grace by making it very clear that there is a still a standard by which we should live. He ends by saying:
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:21)
After first saying "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisee's…you will not enter the kingdom of heaven", He simplifies "the Law" that the Pharisee's followed so strictly, by saying "Do unto others…". It could be that Jesus is saying don't get caught up in the hypocrisy of the Pharisee's, who followed the letter of the Law but missed out on the bigger picture by being consumed with legalism… I'm not sure.
What I take from Matthew 5:17-21 is this: Jesus has come to offer a new way of Salvation apart from following "the Law", BUT He is not dismissing that Law in any way. We are still responsible to follow the essence of it which is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
This makes me wonder why Christians and Churches spend so little time working to help those in need and instead focus mainly on themselves (see my previous rant here).
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August 7th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
this post was a FLOP
August 7th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
No, I don’t think it was a flop, just seemes to me to be a lack of understanding about Jesus’ point concerning the law. He said it stands “until heaven and earth disappear”, because it does. Neither He nor His Father can lie. The law still stands as the only way that we can get to Heaven. By keeping the Law of God perfectly. Not doing so is sin.
However, since no man of dust has ever kept the law, Jesus came to earth to do just that on our behalf-to fullfill every jot and tittle, and further, to demonstrate what a servant life looks like. Thus He provided the Way for us who have failed miserably to keep even the smallest portion of the law to have access through Him to come boldly to the throne of grace.
How now should we then live????
)
August 7th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Right, so every time you cut your hair you are sinning. And to think, all the time we Christians spend fighting against the gays when it's Supercuts we should really be after.
August 7th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
“…it’s Supercuts we should really be attacking.”
Most gay men would probably agree with you.
August 7th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
In all seriousness Hungry,
I am curious about your perspective…not that it differs all that much from mine, but I don’t know if I agree.
According to your thoughts, there is this law that none of us try to follow or even bother to learn and we don’t worry about it because we can rely on the grace of God. By that thinking, why do any good at all. Jesus has fullfilled all that we need to get to heaven, now we can simply live for ourselves, right?
I think we’ve had this argument before, but last time it was I who was taking the position of Grace
August 7th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Hmmmm…I’m not so sure you were on the ‘grace’ side last time, it seemed to be more on the ‘licentious’ side..:o)
The law only applies to people who are alive. You don’t see many policemen posting tickets on gravestones at your local cemetery, do you? If we are born again, we are now ‘dead’. We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we that live, but Christ lives in us.
(Romans 7:4)
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
(Romans 8:10)
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
As far as the ‘law’ we should be serving today?…
(1 John 2:3-6)Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Don’t feel bad if you still don’t understand, you may not be able to help it…*Cheezy grin*
(1 Corinthians 2:14)
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Thanks for the provoked thoughts. This is something that has been wrestled with for 2000 years, but we can still enter the struggle if you like. I routinely go back to this subject with the Lord, and learn something new every time. This is my current understanding:
As you said,
I kind of see the Law as God’s standard. Some of the things in the Law are part of human decency, as Romans 1-2 points out — they are written on the conscience. Whether you know the Law or not, it is still the standard and breaking the Law still has a price: death.
When Jesus lived, He followed the Law perfectly. When He died, it was for OUR sins, not His own. He identified Himself with us, and paid the price for breaking the Law. (II Cor. 5) He took on our life cycle.
He completed our life cycle, but then He was resurrected. When we identify with Jesus in His life, death and resurrection, we identify with the completed cycle. That means the sin is atoned for (the death part). But it also means we have been made alive (the resurrection part).
So in Rom. 8 it says that the law of the spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus has made us free from the Law of sin and death (Exodus, etc.) Not because it doesn’t matter anymore. It does. But because in our identity with Jesus, we are identified with His perfect life; He is identified with our deserved death.
That’s actually the easy part. The hard part is denying the SELF that continually wants to live the old way — the life that deserved death. But as we grow in the Lord, we feel the benefits of life in the Spirit. And so the choice to turn away from the old stuff and believe God gets a little clearer and, well, not easier, but maybe more practiced.
But not to sidetrack too far from your point: the law of the Spirit of life will compel us to listen to the cries of the distressed and aid them when we can. Not because we’re following a Law but because we are identified with Jesus.
BTW, the Mosaic Law was very compassionate to the poor and the needy, the stranger and the widows. The tithe was mandated so that foods would be gathered into a storehouse FOR THE PURPOSE OF distributing it to those who needed it. Misappropriating and misusing it was cause for Malachi 3. That was written to the priests — not to the people.
Ok. Done. Sorry.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:26 am
How so?
How can discussing God’s Word, and attempting to apply it to our lives be a flop? He makes several good points, and the “rant” on the Goat Church is, as the Brits say, spot on. Hopefully, you’re being sarcastic here, Joel.
In regard to finding the correlation between Law vs. Grace as a N.T. believer, I think it’s obvious Christ isn’t abrogating the (moral) law, per se, in Matthew 5-7. I don’t think anyone could make a case that being under “Grace” is opposed to, or is the absence of, God’s law (read Rev. 12:17 and 14:12).
Rather, Grace is, I think, the ABILITY to keep and to follow God’s requirements. The religious crowd of Christ’s day — like many today — thought as long as they didn’t actually, and physically, break the Law, they were OK. But, what Jesus IS doing in chapters 5-7 is elevating law to a higher, inner level — addressing the ATTITUDE behind doing these things. He redefined law in the context of love, as RP pointed out.
Paul does the same thing, taking the matter up in Romans, and clarifies it for us thusly:
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” AND IF THERE IS ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT, IT IS SUMMED UP IN THIS SAYING, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10, NASB, emphasis added)
As does James:
8 If, however, you are fulfilling THE ROYAL LAW, according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by THE LAW OF LIBERTY. (James 2:8-12, NASB, emphasis added)
joebib
August 9th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Lots of good thoughts and comments! This kind of discussion is why I enjoy a good house church where everyone shares. Sooo different from being ‘talked down to’ from a platform.
To add some more here, I think Christ is telling people that the kingdom of God is going to be much more than just the nation of Israel/Temple worship. Joebibstudent has it right, I think, when he said things are changing from the external to the internal. This is why your righteousness has to be greater than the Pharisee. The Pharisee was steeped in the external, the temple and the keeping of rituals. (kind of like the “house of God” routine today.) Now, “the kingdom of God is within you” LK. 17:21 and “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col. 1:27. Daily life is where you get refined and learn to be controlled by the Spirit. I like Gene Edwards’ book, “Jesus was a Blue Collar Worker”, it breaks the stereotype of the ‘Sunday service’ and dressing up to listen to a preacher. The preacher should speak to the lost, not to the sheep.